A decades-old mystery may finally be on the brink of resolution. The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office is set to recover a vehicle from the Columbia River near Cascade Locks, a car that could be linked to one of Oregon’s most haunting cold cases—the disappearance of the Martin family in 1958.
Ken and Barbara Martin, along with their three young daughters, vanished without a trace after leaving their Portland home in December 1958. They had set out on what should have been a simple family outing to gather greenery for Christmas, but they never returned. For more than six decades, speculation swirled around their fate. Clues pointed to Hood River and Wasco counties, but the family’s whereabouts remained a mystery. Then, in May 1959, two of the children’s bodies were discovered in the Columbia River. What happened to the rest of the family, and where was their car?
Now, after years of searching, an independent investigator named Archer Mayo may have found the missing piece. Mayo, who has spent seven years hunting for the vehicle, made a startling discovery deep beneath the river’s surface. He reported finding a car resting upside down, nearly 50 feet underwater, with about 90 percent of it buried in the riverbed.
With renewed hope of uncovering the truth, law enforcement has mobilized to retrieve the vehicle. A crane has been brought in to lift the car from its watery grave, an effort that could finally shed light on what happened to the Martin family all those years ago.
This discovery has reignited public interest in a case that has baffled Oregonians for decades. If the car truly belongs to the Martins, it could provide long-awaited answers to a mystery that has left an indelible mark on the region’s history. Investigators and the community alike are waiting anxiously as the recovery operation unfolds.
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Updates will follow as authorities work to determine the car’s identity and, perhaps, bring closure to one of Oregon’s most enduring unsolved cases.
